Every household or small business has a monthly aggregation of invoices and statements for various operating accounts. Not only should these bills be paid in a timely manner but, after payment, they should be filed for reference purposes in tax preparation and then stored so as to be available if needed in an audit. The responsible household or business manager creates a personal system that satisfies his or her perceived need. One manager's personal system may be keeping two stacks, one for unpaid bills and the second for paid bills, while another's system might use a separate file folder for each unpaid and paid account.
Computers and versatile software have simplified the tasks of bookkeeping and financial management, but there has not been any parallel progress in managing the accounting "paper trail". In a perfect world, the paper might be discarded once the date, transaction number, and amount is entered into the computer. However, the perfect world does not contemplate such things as accidental oversight, entry errors and audits.
Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for organizing bills. A second object is that the improved apparatus include a visible reminder of pending, unpaid bills. A third object is that the improved apparatus provide integral packaging for long term storage and retrieval of bills paid during a fiscal year.